Small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) amongst the grassland. This butterfly is dependent on grasses such as yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) as the main foodplant of its larval stage
Tuesday 10th November 2026 - A marginally colder but rainless day awaited the volunteers as they spread out through the Western half of Roundshaw woods.
With three main spheres of work to complete the team divided up to plant another batch of wildflower bulbs, brush-cut remaining vegetation from the open grassland area and performed a multitude of scrub bashing activities, pushing back Bramble from the Woodland edges and around the tree whips planted about a year ago, popped pockets of Snowberry and coppiced Hazel on the edges of the woodland to let more light penetrate into the interior whilst using the material to create more dead-hedging.
Thursday 5th November 2026 - The day remained dry but a chill could be felt on the exposed plains of Carshalton Road Pastures for another strong turnout of volunteers.
Concentrating most of todays works around the chalk scrape areas the team set about brushcutting the last patch of grassland vegetation that was inaccessible to contractor mowing and also hit the scrub islands hard, lopping and popping outlying suckering regrowth (mainly Blackthorn) to keep areas open and from becoming dense thickets.
Tuesday 3rd November 2026 - The team turnout was nearly too large for a small site like Devonshire Avenue Nature Area but with a little bit extra looking around jobs could be found to keep all hands busy.
With a fairly bright sky overhead and rain holding off a multitude of tasks got completed, including bulb planting (English Bluebells and Snowdrop), a thorough pick through of litter both obvious and well hidden, removal of a couple of outdated sign, Snowberry control, a good bit of tree felling to open up some of the more shaded areas of the site and the clearing up of the woody material produce by bolstering existing Dead Hedges.
Thursday 29th October 2026 - The weather was positively mild allowing the volunteers to get really stuck into the tasks planned at Roundshaw Downs.
Working in the South-East sector of the site, 3 separate areas received about two dozen plug plants each to aid overall distribution of the wildflower species which slowly increase year by year.
After finishing up with the planting the day then turned to Bramble clearance and a minor touch of crown lifting to the rabbit warren of paths criss-crossing the area.
Tuesday 27th October 2026 - The foreboding dull skies and rains of overnight almost held out the whole day for the large contingent of volunteers spending the task-day at Richmond Green.
Still working on getting the grassland and riverbanks up to par the team set about weeding Nettles and remnants of regrowing Wingnut Tree, raking any lingering traces of the meadow cut arisings carried out two weeks ago and scratching up areas of bare soil for a subsequent seed sowing to make sure they adhere the best they can.
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